Subject: Travel pool report #12: POTUS says “I’ll cancel the press conference.” @ 2 percenter’ working lunch
Hertfordshire
POTUS says he’s canceling afternoon news conference but will be speaking to Denmark and Italy after this. (So far those are marked CLOSED press and we are not sure if they have been opened. WH officials who are with us not sure either but have told us to prepare for both.)
On the meeting:
POTUS is participating in a working lunch with representatives of nine other countries that are currently meeting or exceeding the pledge to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense spending. Pool was ushered in at 2:20 pm after several large groups of other international photographers
POTUS, seared in the middle of a long table, said that he wanted to take the leaders to lunch — “this is on me.”
He said an unnamed leader praised American involvement and reiterated the US’s own commitment: “We won’t spend under what I’ve done: 2.5 trillion dollars.”
Of others: “We have unfortunately a large number that hasn’t met the goal” of 2 percent GDP spending.
“The Secretary General will tell you ... when I first came it was like a rollercoaster down. Since then we’ve gone up massively.”
Stoltenberg gave remarks, calling the progress “unprecedented” and thanking the president.
POTUS then began calling on leaders around the table, starting with President Duda of Poland. Pool was ushered out at 2:26 pm.
According to the White House, the other countries represented are: Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and the United Kingdom.
Next up, POTUS will have two pull-aside meetings with leaders from Denmark and Italy, and we have been told to prepare for those to be opened up at a moment’s notice.
As they say, we’ll see what happens.
Subject: Travel pool report #11: Fuller quotes from Merkel bilat
Hertfordshire
More from the 11-minute spray with Merkel.
Check quotes against transcripts.
On his meeting with Erdogan:
“I discussed everything. We discussed a lot. We had a meeting, unscheduled, but we have already put out a notice. It was a very good meeting, I think. We discussed Syria. We discussed the Kurds. We discussed numerous things, and we’re getting along very well. The border and the safe zone is working out very well. And I gave a lot of credit to Turkey for that. The cease-fire is holding very much so and I think people are surprised.
Maybe someday they’ll give me credit, but probably not. They’ve been trying to work this out for 100 years. That border is a mess for a long time. We pulled our soldiers out and took over the oil. We have soldiers where the oil is. And that’s the way I like it. And they can police their own border. And that’s what they’re doing. They can use other countries if they want, if they want to spend the time and energy. But this has been a border under siege for many, many decades, and it was time for us to leave, and we left, and it’s been holding very nicely. So we’re very happy. We talked about that.”
On Trudeau video:
“Well, he’s two-faced. And with Trudeau, he’s a nice guy. I find him to be a nice guy, but the truth is, I called him out on the fact that he’s not paying 2%, and I guess he’s not very happy about it. I mean, you were there. A couple of you were there.”
“He’s not paying 2%, and he should be paying 2%. It’s Canada. They have money. And they should be paying 2%. So I called him out on that, and I’m sure he wasn’t happy about that, but that’s the way it is. Look, I’m representing the U.S. And he should be paying more than he’s paying. And he understands it. So I can imagine he’s not that happy. But that’s the way it is. “
On whether Turkey is committed to protecting the Baltics and Poland:
“Oh, yeah. They’ve been very good. I think that, frankly, a lot of people paid great respect to Turkey for the work they’ve done, and we had a number of mentions where they were mentioned specifically. They’ve been doing a good job and they’ve been doing a good job also on the border and the safe zone, and they have held. Obviously, there were some skirmishes. That’s been around for a long time, but they’ve — the cease-fire has held very well.”
On Rudy Giuliani’s contact with OMB:
“I really don’t know. You have to ask him. Sounds like something that’s not so complicated. You’d have to ask him. No big deal.”
On whether he’d place sanctions on North Korea, POTUS’s response was about Germany:
“We haven’t really determined that yet. I do think it’s a problem, but it’s a problem that Germany is going to have to work out for themselves. Maybe for Germany, it won’t be a problem. I hope it’s not actually, but we’ll be talking about that.”
On Putin’s offer to place a moratorium for medium-range missile systems:
“We’re talking to Russia about many things, including a cessation on nuclear and nuclear creation. It’s, in my opinion, the biggest problem the world has today. I think it’s bigger than and other problem the world has today and we’re working very hard on it. And he wants to see something happen, and so do I and so does China.”
On trade with Germany:
“We’ll be talking about everything. Trade is very important. Germany is a very big trading partner and it’s been really the European union, and we are — we’ve been discussing it for quite awhile. It’s been a little tough for the United States. We’ve had a very bad imbalance for many, many years for decades, actually, and we’re discussing that right now.”
On China/trade:
“We’re talking to China. Those discussions are going very well and we’ll see what happens. We’re talking to China. We’re talking to others. We made a deal with South Korea, a deal with Japan. The Japan deal is a partial deal. The rest will come next year, but we’ve made already many deal.”
On USMCA:
“The big deal is the USMCA with Canada/Mexico and Nancy Pelosi has to get that approved. She has to put it out for a vote. She doesn’t have to talk to anybody. She doesn’t have to talk to any of her Democrats because they’ll approve it and their constituents want it approved very badly. That’s where we are. We’ve made a lot of deals.”
On persuading other allies to allow China to build 5G networks:
“Well, I’m not working very hard on that, but I do think it’s a security risk. It’s a security danger. And I spoke to Italy, and they looked like they’re not going to go forward with that. We spoke to other countries. They’re not going to go forward. Everybody I’ve spoken to is not going to go forward but how many countries can I speak to? Am I going to call up and speak to the whole world? It’s a security risk in my opinion, in our opinion. We’re building it, and we’ve started but we’re not using Huawei.”
On his closed-door meeting later today with Denmark:
“Will we discuss Greenland? What do you think? Tell me.”
Those on FNC especially Bill Hemmer were speculating that he cancelled the press conference because of what was overheard last night where Tru-dough was making fun of his long winded-ness.
They sure don't know our President as that wouldn't deter him one bit.